When you know that 90% of the time spent on a mobile is devoted to apps, you quickly understand the stakes for a company in owning its own app.
Yet first-month churn approaches 60%. Indeed, a mobile user is unforgiving, and if they are not completely satisfied with the product or its design, they uninstall it.
What is mobile app design?
To encourage many users to download your mobile app, one thing is certain: taking care of its design is essential. We'll explain exactly mobile app design what it is and why it's so important in 2022.
A thorough approach to mobile design
The mobile app design consists of offering a unique experience to users of a mobile app. The elements that contribute to creating this experience for the user are: navigation, ergonomics, performance, and the simplicity of the mobile app.
Paying attention to your users to better understand them is a good way to know what they like and to offer them the best possible experience. The mobile app design, is ultimately what makes people want to use and spend time on an app.
To get support in the process of creation of your mobile app, don't hesitate to hire a mobile developer on Codeur.com.
The differences between UI design and UX design
When we talk about UI (User Interface), we are referring to the interface design of a mobile app. This stage of design takes into account all the elements that contribute to ergonomics, visuals, and the arrangement of elements on a mobile app. The role of the UI designer is to provide mobile app users with a pleasant interface and a clear content hierarchy.
When discussing the concept of UX (User Experience), we refer to how to design a mobile application so its use is optimal for users. The UX designer focuses on ease of use, intuitiveness, and functionality. Their main goal is for the user to easily find the information they care about by optimizing navigation.
How to succeed in designing your app?
You don't want your app to be one of those that gets downloaded and immediately uninstalled, so here are 12 tips to refine the design of your mobile app.
1. Make a good impression from the moment the app is installed
A user's first time using an app is often the most decisive moment: will the app be appreciated or uninstalled?
Nailing the onboarding is essential, and for that your mobile app must have an intuitive design and introduce users to the most interesting and appealing features.
Caution: Even if you want to guide your users, be careful not to make the introduction too complicated or too intrusive.
To make a good impression, design your app with the understanding that future users won't know how to use it or what features are available to them.
2. Keep the app's goal in mind during its design
Many apps are developed just to follow a trend rather than to solve a real problem. Your app must have a purpose and offer a unique service.
The objective you set will fully influence the development and design of your mobile app and will guide your decision-making.
If your goal is clear, users will understand the added value you provide. Otherwise, your app will be judged useless and therefore... uninstalled.
3. Think about navigation before design
During app development, be careful not to skip steps.
Designing the app is a very exciting part because it's when your product takes shape. But have you thoroughly thought about your users' navigation?
The structure of your app and the navigation paths must be carefully planned by creating, for example, wireframes. A lack of organization and clunky navigation will drive your users away.
4. Don’t add too many features
Mobile app platforms already offer many resources to users, so you don't need to duplicate them. Your app shouldn't be a Swiss army knife.
Offering too many features is not a good idea because:
- You risk disorienting your user
- You will worsen the user experience
- Your application will be harder to market
It's recommended to create prototypes of your app to highlight the essential features and those that seem excessive. You should also be able to explain your app quickly and concisely.
Try to convince your users with only one or two features before testing new additions for later releases.
5. Consider the app's usage context
Goals and design should be conceived with your application's usage context in mind.
Think first about your future users. Younger people will likely find features intuitive while others may find the same features hard to understand.
Then consider the situations in which your app will be used by asking yourself the following questions:
- Does it need to be accessed quickly for a very short time?
- Does it have a lot of content to allow users to stay longer?
- How will the design reflect the context of use?
6. Keep it simple
Many try to stand out from other apps with an original design. But original doesn't mean complicated.
Even if you want to make your elements attractive, don't forget they must add value to the user experience.
Opt for a reductive design by asking yourself throughout your app's design, "How can I remove this element?"
Also avoid reinventing standard mobile app elements. Some icons are often visual anchors and make the app intuitive.
Finally, leave white space because a cluttered interface is not very user-friendly.
7. Offer a dark mode
The official launches of Android 10 and iOS 13 highlighted "dark mode" in their respective user interfaces. Apple and Google have both devoted their resources and attention to a dark mode for over a year. Mobile app designers must now adopt what has become a new standard for users.
Research shows that 87% of smartphone users use their phone within an hour after going to bed, when night mode is active. In addition, users can set dark mode as their default interface style. 50% of iPhone users have already updated to iOS 13, so a growing number of users browse the App Store in dark mode.
How to design your app's dark mode?
There are a few elements to consider when optimizing for night mode. First, Apple's guidelines. The company does indeed provide specific guidelines and recommendations for developers who want to adapt their apps to dark mode.
Since the dark mode UI offers a different contrast with visual elements, you should consider the following design approaches:
- Soften the color of white backgrounds to prevent them from glaring and contrasting strongly against the surrounding black.
- A dark theme should not be made of white text on a black background. When you add dark mode to your app, it is safer touse dark gray as the primary color for dark mode components, as this reduces eye strain. It is also much easier to perceive shadows on a gray surface than on a black one.
- Highly saturated colors that look great on light surfaces can "vibrate" on a dark background, making text extremely hard to read.
- Remember that the design blends into the App Store's user interface
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8. Be consistent
If you still choose a redesigned look for your app, be careful to maintain consistency between your different elements.
Your text must also be formatted the same way across the different "pages" of your mobile app.
9. Don’t overuse notifications
Push notifications are very useful for communicating with your users. Yet many disable them because they find their sending frequency far too high.
Besides the number of notifications sent, their quality is just as important. You should send useful notifications, such as reminders or tips.
10. Optimize your design to stand out in app stores
It is important to know that 70% of app installs on the App Store come from searches. This means the way an app appears in search results can have a significant impact on its success. How apps stand out through their design when users search is therefore decisive.
In general, app designers should follow App Store optimization best practices. When designing screenshots or icons, they should study the market and identify trends that boost conversions. There may be certain color palettes, design elements, messages, etc. that users respond well to.
Other best practices include:
- Highlight a different aspect of the app with each screenshot, starting with the essential features.
- Include a clearly visible call-to-action text for each image.
- Incorporate some keywords of prime importance in the call-to-action text, so that users can see how their searches led them to this app.
- Ensure use the ten screenshots authorized.
- Keep in mind that thethe first three screenshots are the most important for conversion from search results.
11. Don’t forget your design budget
You have plenty of ideas for your app — that’s great. But before anything else, think about your budget.
Your developers and designers will quickly tell you whether you have enough resources to build your app as you envision it. If not, you can find solutions and alternatives to fit your budget.
Estimate as accurately as possible the budget required to design your mobile app with our price simulator.
12. Do A/B tests
Think you’ve finished your app? Don’t release it without running A/B tests.
A common mistake is testing the mobile app yourself or with your team. But it’s essential to show it to fresh eyes — it won’t waste your time; quite the opposite.
You’ll quickly spot errors, missing elements, useless features, things that aren’t understood, etc. Ideally, test at every stage of your app’s development so you can make necessary changes quickly.
Run A/B tests to see if conversion rates change with your design, or organize focus groups to see how users react to your design choices.
If you’ve planned a dark mode for your mobile app, it’s essential to test your designs’ performance in both light and dark modes. You may need to adjust graphic elements or colors to find a good balance, because what works well in one mode may not perform as well in the other.
Why is it essential to work on your mobile app design?
The app design mobile is the key element that will help you increase your number of downloads and boost your users' average time on your app. We focus on the mobile app design to meet the following objectives:
- make the app easier to use for users
- improve user comfort to enhance their experience
- guide users to help them easily find the content they're looking for
- Increase your app's mobile conversion rates (get more leads, more sales, or bookings)
3 tools to create mobile app wireframes
Adobe XD
Belonging to the Adobe Creative Cloud suite, Adobe XD allows you to create mobile app wireframes by building realistic, animated prototypes. It is Adobe XD's intuitiveness and ease of use that make it an essential tool.
Figma
Wireframe creation software, Figma is appreciated by an increasing number of designers. Its added bonus is its excellent collaboration feature that allows a team of designers to work at the same time on the same mobile app design.
Axure
Axure is an all‑in‑one tool for creating prototypes of mobile app designIts many features enable the design of interactive wireframes ready for testing. Users especially appreciate how easily it lets them bring ideas to life and conceptualize them.
Our tip
In this article we discussed two crucial topics for successfully designing your mobile app: on one hand the app's own design, which can become a major selling point if it succeeds, or a deterrent if your app proves unusable—for example because navigation is too difficult and counterintuitive.
Next, the crux of the matter: visibility in the app stores. If your app is successful, the design of your screenshots and how it is showcased in mobile app search engines must also be carefully crafted!
It would be a shame to miss out on the many users searching for an app like yours to meet their needs.
To succeed in designing your mobile app, hire professionals. Post your project on Codeur.com and quickly find freelance mobile developers.
Are you looking for a provider solely to optimize your app store ranking? Again, find the freelancer you need on Codeur.com !
